


Losing The Race

by browncowstunning



Category: RuPaul's Drag Race RPF
Genre: Alternate Universe - Kindergarten & Pre-school, Drag Queens, Gen, Parent-Child Relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-31
Updated: 2018-07-31
Packaged: 2019-06-19 09:19:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,506
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15507057
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/browncowstunning/pseuds/browncowstunning
Summary: Vanessa Mateo is a little girl still in school. A race is announced and Vanessa and her friends can't wait!All little Vanessa wants to do is make her mother Alexis proud. She WILL win the race.But as Alexis tells her daughter, it's not about winning. It's about finishing.





	Losing The Race

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Lulufeca](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lulufeca/gifts).



> They're all aged about 6 or 7.
> 
> The race is kind of a metaphor for Drag Race Season 10 and this story is about how badly Vanessa wanted to make her mother proud.
> 
> May the best woman win!
> 
> (Gifted to Lulufeca because this user seems so sweet!! thanks for all your lovely comments on so many stories)

"Before you all go home, I have a special, exciting announcement for you all!" said Miss Visage, Vanessa Mateo's teacher.

Vanessa almost pooped her pants with excitement. Next to the little girl, her friends Dusty and Blair squealed, eager to hear what Miss Visage had to say. The class 'troublemaker' Vixen started to jump up and down. Aquaria and Brianna, the inseperable twins, started copying Vixen.

"Calm down everybody!" laughed Miss Visage. "You'll only get to hear when you're all sat on the carpet quietly."

Vixen, Aquaria and Brianna all sat down reluctantly. Dusty and Blair settled down, and Vanessa listened eagerly to what Miss Visage was going to say.

"Next week, on Monday, we're going to be holding a special sports event and the whole school will be taking part!" announced Miss Visage.

"The whole school?" echoed Monique.

"Yes, and there'll be loads of opportunities for you all to take part in games and sports on the day!" replied Miss Visage. "Most importantly, there'll be a long-distance race, which will take you about five minutes to complete. The winner will get a prize!"

"Ooh!" squealed several of the kids.

The bell rang and Miss Visage led all the children to the playground, where she made sure each girl was collected by her parents. Vanessa pointed at her mother Alexis Mateo, who was waving, and Miss Visage let her leave.

"Mommy!" yelled Vanessa, running at Alexis and madly flailing her arms around.

"Did you have a nice day at school, dear?" asked Alexis kindly, smiling down at her little daughter.

"There's-going-to-be-a-sports-event-and-it's-going-to-be-amazing-and-I-wanna-win-the-race-so-so-much-and-I'm-so-excited-I-can't-wait-and-I-love-running-and-the-whole-school-is-taking-part-and-I'm-gonna-win---" said Vanessa quickly, the words spilling out of her mouth with excitement.

"Slow down!" laughed Alexis. "Save Speedy-Vanessa for the race!"

"I wanna win, Mommy!" said Vanessa excitedly.

"I'm sure you'll do wonderfully, Vanessa." said Alexis with a smile. "Now let's go home and enjoy the weekend."

Alexis took Vanessa's little hand and walked her home. The weekend sped by, and on Monday morning Vanessa found herself waking up early. She had already dressed herself and eaten breakfast by the time Alexis had woken up.

"I'm so excited!" squealed Vanessa.

"As a special treat today, we're walking to school with the twins!" said Alexis.

"Aah!" yelled Vanessa, filled with happiness.

At the bottom of their street, Alexis and Vanessa saw Brianna and Aquaria waiting patiently with Sharon. Vanessa stared at Sharon a little bit as she walked with Alexis towards the twins. Aquaria and Brianna's parents mystified Vanessa. She knew that Sharon had originally been married to somebody named Justin Honard, who she'd had the twins with. Then Sharon had divorced Justin and married a woman called... Bob. So Brianna and Aquaria had two moms! Vanessa walked out in front with the twins and they chatted excitedly about the day ahead.

"I am gonna WIN the race!" laughed Aquaria.

"No way!" argued Vanessa. "I'm going to win!"

"But I'm going to be the winner!" said Brianna.

Sharon said goodbye to her daughters and Vanessa turned to her mother to say goodbye. Alexis hugged Vanessa and told her one thing before she went into the school.

"Remember, honey," said Alexis quietly. "It's not about winning the race. It's about finishing."

Vanessa smiled and nodded. Then she followed Aquaria and Brianna into the school, bouncing along happily next to her two friends. Miss Visage was inside the classroom, surrounded by excited children. Vanessa ran over to Dusty and Kalorie and said hello. Aquaria and Brianna chatted with Monét and Yuhua. Miss Visage did a quick head count.

"We're missing one person!" announced Miss Visage.

Finally, Kameron walked in, looking apologetic. Eureka ran over and said hello to her friend. Then all the girls sat down on the carpet and waited to hear what Miss Visage was going to say.

"So first, we're going to go to the field and look at the track for this afternoon's race," explained Miss Visage when all the girls were quiet. "Then we're going to join the rest of the school and do some random sporty activities!"

The children got into a line, walking in pairs, and followed Miss Visage to the field. The track started right by the start of the field. It then snaked into a large clump of trees, across the sandy area, through the tall grass and then a final lap around the entire field. Miss Visage explained that the track would take about five minutes to complete. Vanessa squealed excitedly as she looked at the track. Then, Miss Visage had another important announcement.

"We've invited your parents in this afternoon to watch the race!" announced Miss Visage.

Vanessa couldn't believe her mother was going to watch her win the race! All the others seemed to be thinking the same thing, and they jumped up and down with excitement. Miss Visage led her class over to the middle of the field where various sports were being hosted. Vanessa took part in a very messy tennis game against Blair, played tag with Aquaria, Brianna, Mayhem, Monét, Dusty and Yuhua, took part in long jump (long-legged Naomi Smalls won that by a mile) and played a weird version of cricket with Asia, Kalorie, Eureka, Monique and Vixen before practising running with Kameron.

Time flew by, and it was suddenly the afternoon. Parents started to arrive. Vanessa spotted Alexis in the small crowd of parents, and her mother waved at her proudly. Miss Visage led her fourteen students to the start of the track, where they started stretching and jogging on the spot. Vanessa laughed at them. She wasn't going to stretch or warm up- she didn't want to waste her energy! Miss Visage checked all the girls were ready, then got them all to line up neatly at the start line. She put her whistle to her mouth. Vanessa focused on the track ahead. She was ready to run. She was going to win.

The whistle was blown and Vanessa burst forward, running as fast as her small legs could carry her. The track turned into the little forest area and Vanessa was proud to be leading the race. She glanced behind her to see Aquaria and Kameron just behind her, panting heavily but slowly catching up. Suddenly Vanessa got winded and she found herself lying on the floor. She'd hit a tree by accident. Feet pounded past her head and she clutched her chest in pain.

"Oww!" wailed Vanessa. "It hurts!"

"Vanessa!" came a voice. Vanessa couldn't tell who it was.

"Help," winced Vanessa, noticing Dusty's spotty face next to hers.

Dusty knelt down and wiped some of the dirt off Vanessa. Vanessa began to cry, realising she wasn't going to win the race. People cheered in the distance, unaware that Vanessa had fallen.

"Are you alright?" asked Dusty anxiously.

Vanessa didn't reply, and instead cried uncontrollably. Dusty gently wiped away some tears and helped her friend stand up. Pain shot through Vanessa's leg.

"I think I twisted my ankle," cried Vanessa.

"It's okay," said Dusty, trying to reassure her friend. "Now let's finish the race."

"I can't," said Vanessa sadly. "I won't win. We're in last place."

"We're not in last place," said Dusty. "Kalorie's walking. Now come on, I can help you!"

Vanessa put her arm around Dusty's shoulders and the two girls started to walk along the track. After the two friends exited the forest area and entered the sandy part of the track, Kalorie caught up to Vanessa and Dusty. Dusty quickly explained the situation and Vanessa put her other arm around Kalorie's shoulder. The three girls slowly continued along the track. The long grass section was difficult to walk through, but they cleared the section and re-entered the field for the final lap around the field. Vanessa pushed on through the pain and finally reached the last stretch of track.

"I wanna finish on my own," said Vanessa bravely, her mother's words flooding back to her. "You guys take 12th and 13th. I don't want you coming last because of me."

**It's not about winning. It's about finishing.**

Kalorie nodded and started to walk towards the finish line. Dusty looked at Vanessa for a moment, hesitating, then nodded and ran towards the finish, beating Kalorie and overtaking Yuhua, who'd given up and was walking. Vanessa watched her friends finish and continued to limp towards the finish. She saw her mother smiling at her proudly and was given a burst of energy. She crossed the finish line and then went straight to Alexis.

"I'm proud of you, Vanessa," said Alexis.

"But I lost," said Vanessa doubtfully. "I let you down."

"But you finished," explained Alexis. "And I'm so proud that you didn't give up."

Vanessa hugged Alexis tightly, tears streaming down her face. Yes, she had lost the race, but she'd learned that it really wasn't about winning. She'd seen how much Dusty cared about her. She'd learned how important it was to always try. And although she had lost the race, Vanessa knew that no matter what, Alexis would always be proud of her.

**Author's Note:**

> Aquaria won because she's just great at everything  
> Eureka came second after cheating and taking shortcuts boo hiss  
> Kameron came third because muscles and fitness  
> Asia came fourth.. she would have come third but got distracted by a butterfly  
> Brianna came fifth and was kinda salty that her twin won without her  
> Monét came sixth  
> Vixen came seventh  
> Monique came eighth  
> Blair came ninth  
> Mayhem came tenth  
> Dusty came eleventh  
> Yuhua came twelfth  
> Kalorie came thirteenth  
> Vanessa came last, but made Alexis proud <3
> 
> (please let me know what you thought of this haha it's a bit random but I enjoyed writing it!)  
> (I really love Dusty and Vanessa together like they're just such cuties and I ship them)


End file.
